Truth
by MarleyInTheFields
Summary: You lost it all. And before you knew it, you were cold, alone, crying, watching the familiar faces coming and going… Slight Palletshipping


**Story: **Truth

**Author: **Marrl

**Rating: **M (to be sure :) )

**Genre: **Angst

**Spoilers: **Hmm... There aren't any spoilers you should worry about if you watched the series until the Hoenn episodes.

**Warnings: **Hints of a boy/boy pairing, blood and lots of depressing things.

**Pairing: **Slight Palletshipping (Ash/Gary, Satoshi/Shigeru)

**Disclaimer: **Pokémon and it's characters belong to Nintendo

**Summary: **You lost it all. And before you knew it, you were cold, alone, crying, watching the familiar faces coming and going…

**Author's note: **First, I want to thank all the nice people who reviewed my first (English) story Storm. So uhm... Thank you very much! I didn't expect to get that much reviews. You made me so happy! -gives a cookie to everyone-

My second English fanfiction! I must say my English isn't perfect, and I make a lot of mistakes. I KNOW people told me my English wasn't bad, but I'm not sure about some sentences in this story. I asked other people but they didn't know it either. XD I chose what I thought what was right.

Anyway, I put a small part of the translated lyrics of 'Via Dolorosa' by 'Abingdon Boys School'. This song wasn't my inspiration for this fic. I finished the Dutch version of the story, and while translating it to English, I started missing the music in my room. So I started searching for a song that fitted the story. Then, a friend of mine (named XPurpleCloudX at the moment) gave me this song. Nice song, hehe...

Some other notes: Ash is around 20-30 years old in the story. Now you have an idea how old the others are... And I used the Japanese names. :3

Okay, some things are kinda weird in this story (Christmas wtf) and I didn't watch the series lately so some things might be wrong in the story. I hope you guys don't mind... Enjoy!~

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_**Truth**_

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_Snow._

The first freezing snowflakes whirled down from the sky. The landed everywhere: on the roofs of the houses, on the wet rocks and in the hair of people who were outside. The wind felt cold, although it was calm today. The cold weather didn't give trouble to the most people, because they were wearing warm clothes. And, of course, the atmosphere warmed them in the cities they were going to. Even when the sky turned pitch-black, the coloured lights glittered everywhere on the classic store signs and in the display cases. On some spots in the cities, they placed a Christmas tree. It was decorated with colourful festoons together with all kinds of Christmas balls. Yes, it was Christmas Eve. The night where everyone was supposed to visit each other. Where everyone was supposed to sit around the fire together. Where everyone was supposed to be happy together. The most were happy. Even the adults looked like they were five years old. Everyone had a smile on their faces.

Except for him.

His smile vanished a long time ago, and he asked himself every single day if it would return. The snowflakes that landed on his cheeks didn't cause happiness, but pain. His body was numb from the cold. It had to; his clothes were so worn out that every bit of snow could go through them. Everyday, it became harder not to lose consciousness. He sat with his knees against his chest on the clammy street. He tried to let his head rest by keeping it down to his knees. But sometimes he looked up to the passing people. All different kinds of people. An old lady who tried to pass the crowded street. A young couple holding hands with their faces towards each other, not paying any attention to the outside world. A little girl with a balloon shaped like a Fuwante. They all walked there. But nobody looked at him. Or yes, people that were irritated because they almost stumbled over him. Or they looked at him with a wry face because they thought he was going to ask for food or money. But he never did. He just watched.

_I saw a red-haired woman passing by. She had her hair worn in a ponytail. With her ocean blue coat, she walked with a great speed through the crowd. She made me think of a good friend from the past. I met her while stealing her bike, and ruined it shortly afterwards. I never really paid her back for that accident. She travelled with me for a long time when I started my dream to become a Pokémon master. She helped me often and prevented I did something stupid. Actually I always treated her like a friend, while my other friends swore she loved me. I couldn't believe it, but it seemed to be true. It wasn't that I loved her back. I liked her, as a friend. _

_The women kept up a steady pace, but her eyes slid alongside the stores. Her eyes fell on me. She gazed at me for a while. Then, she walked away._

With his arms he pushed his knees closer to his body. He tried to look to the sky, but his vision was too blurry to see the stars. Maybe the snowy clouds were in front of them. Would Venus be up there? He brought his hands to each other and he wished everything would be like it was before. Not that he would think his wish would be fulfilled, no.

_I saw a tinted man passing by. He was wearing a dark-blue T-shirt, which was weird because of the weather. With way too big gestures, he tried to impress the pretty lady who was walking next to him. He made me think of a loyal friend from the past. He was always there for me, even when I did things by which I could risk my life. For some reason, he fell in love with every woman he could see. The problem was, the women he wanted to flirt with never liked him at all. But even when he could be completely distracted, he could become very serious. He was a master in breeding Pokémon. He was a great cook, too. I had to chuckle, but my throat felt too sore. _

_They moved on. The man didn't bother to look at me, either. _

A man with a cheerful coloured costume walked out of one of the stores from the street. He looked with a mad face to the young man. He made hysterical movements with his hand like he was trying to scare away a wasp.

"Hey! Go away from here! We don't want people like you over here!" he said with a loud voice.

The young man lifted his head slowly. He looked at him tiredly, but sad. The salesman only got angrier. It was like he was going to use violence now, but he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave it, John. He sits here more often," said a grumbling voice. The salesman nodded surprised whereupon he slipped into the store again.

The boy sighed, and he let his head rest on his knees again.

_I saw a yellow-coloured Pokémon passing by. He seemed very old, but he still frolicked with ease. A boy walked beside him. I guess he was like ten years old. Excitedly he walked among all the people. It made me think of my first Pokémon. When I was too late to choose one of the base Pokémon, the professor had set aside another Pokémon. The Pokémon became one of my best friends. He stayed together with me the whole journey, while I switched in all the others when I was going to visit a new region. We were a team for life. At least, that's what I thought first.  
The Pokémon turned his head in my direction, and then he stopped. _

"_Pika?" he asked me curiously. He walked towards me, hesitating. I tried to look as happy as possible, but my face stayed frozen._

"_Happy Christmas," I whispered almost inaudible. I stretched my hand to the small Pokémon. __When I touched him, I felt a strong shock going through my body. __I pulled my hand back quickly. The Pokémon looked angry. Sparks flew from his red cheeks. _

"_Pikachuu!" the boy's voice called from far away. The Pokémon nodded in the direction of the voice, and he ran away. Goodbye…_

Slowly he collapsed on the ground. He thought he found peace for just a minute, until someone stepped on his foot. He shot up instantly. It was bleeding. Again. He placed his hands in front of his eyes. He wanted to sleep for so long. But he couldn't. Not here, in the freezing cold streets.  
His body hurts, full of infections. His mind hurts, full of painfull memories. He tried to control his tears. 'I don't want to do this any more...'

_**Unclasping fingers numb from cold  
The snow falling on your shoulders  
As your eyes are cast downward  
Silently conceals the adoration  
Painting the streets in white, leaving no trace behind**_

_I saw a tall man passing by. His hair had a velvet-brown colour. He was wearing a warm grey coat, which made me think of a detective. You could see his muscled body through it. His blue-green eyes stared into the endless streets. He made me think of my first best friend I ever had. He often did everything he could to make me happy. We saw each other everyday then. He learned me lots of things, and he always stayed close to me whatever happened. We made two promises: The first one, we would try to become a Pokémon Master together, no matter what. And two, we would always stay together. Two of the promises were broken. He left me behind so that we became rivals. After the Silver Conference he told me he gave up his dream to be a Pokémon Master. He decided to start researching and tried be like his grandfather. We became friends after that, but our friendship was never as good as it was before we became rivals. I would always regret that. I felt the depression return inside as that thought entered my mind. _

_The man turned his gaze towards me. Suddenly, his emotionless expression changed into a shocked one. He stopped, and he let all the people pass him. The world became quiet. I looked at the man with my sad eyes. He just stood there for a while, serene, motionless. Subsequently, he walked towards me calmly, until he stood right in front of me. __I attempted to look up. My neck hurt too much. He was immensely tall, or I was just too small... __Fortunately, he bent over so his face became visible for me. Face of perfection. I couldn't find a mistake anywhere, only a concerned frown. His eyes drilled through mine, I could hardly keep them open. Quickly, I glanced down to avoid his eyes. But now I was forced to look at him, because of a soft warm hand against my cheek. I closed my eyes: I didn't dare to look at him. His hand slid from my cheeks to my neck and shoulder. After that, his hand lost contact with my body. I didn't look up, assumed he walked away already. I felt him again, this time he wrapped something around me. __It felt warm, like a duvet. I opened my eyes a little. His coat. He'd hung his gray coat over my shoulders. __I pulled the coat some more around me. __The man still stood half bent. I wanted to thank him, but my throat was too dry. __He smiled down at me, whereupon he rose up straight again and walked away slowly._

Hidden in the comfortable coat, he stared how the man walked away. Warmth embraced him. He was grateful. He smiled at the tall man who was covered by the faint rays of the moonlight. He closed his eyes softly. Just before they were completely closed, he saw the man looking at him.

'Thank you, Shigeru.'

_I saw a black-haired young man passing out. He was wrapped in a coat with a tiny smile dancing on his lips. He made me think of a precious friend from the past. He often did everything he could to make me happy. But I left him behind for the most stupid reason. We became friends later, but we never became as good friends as we were first. I hadn't seen him for quite a while now, and, to be honest, I started to miss him a bit.  
I stared to Venus between the dark clouds in the sky._

'_I wonder where Satoshi is right now…'_

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You read it? Really? Aww thank you so much! -hugs- Please tell me how it was!  
By the way... this was meant to be a one-shot. But... I already got some ideas for a sequel. But I'm afraid I'll ruin the whole thing because I'm happy about the story now, too. Soo, what do you think?


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